Instead of rescuing the orphaned moose, whose mother was found nearby having died while giving birth, officers from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (MT FWP) killed her; the U.S. Forest Service then blew up her body with explosives to scatter her remains.

"They can carry chronic wasting disease which can be very devastating to populations; it's also very dangerous to humans," Jones told news station KXLH, adding that had the moose not been killed, she would have likely died without her mother anyway.

Hohm says that the MT FWP did not test the moose calf for disease before killing her.